Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Three

Charlie arrived home late and stressed from work.

"Rough day?" Joey asked worriedly when her partner entered their bedroom.

Charlie flopped dramatically onto the mattress, making Joey and the laundry she had been folding, bounce. She moved to lie beside Charlie, studying her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked tenderly.

"Bad day at work," she said.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Romeo and Xavier found this kid in an abandoned building," Charlie said. "They took him to Martha who brought him to us this morning. The kid's from Indonesia, doesn't speak a word of English and Angelo thinks he's the son of that guy who called himself Clint Eastwood, the one that he's convinced he heard Hugo intimidating."

She took a breath, keeping her eyes closed and enjoying Joey's close proximity.

"Anyway, Angelo stole the kid's toy and found some sort of code or number or something in it," she continued. "And Social Services have told Martha that if she wants to take care of the kid, Bambang, then she can. She does, so she's taken him home for the next few days while we try and find his family. But in the meantime, Angelo's convinced that he can use him to trap Hugo at last. He thinks that Hugo will flip when he sees Bambang in his house. He thinks it will unnerve him into making a mistake and getting himself caught."

"He's relying on a lot of things out of his control, isn't he?" Joey remarked.

"Tell me about it," Charlie said. "And I feel so guilty."

"What do you feel guilty about?" Joey asked.

"I don't want to use a child. I don't want him to get hurt. It was hard enough seeing all those bodies before but the thought that this human trafficking thing could happen to children... And to know that it probably is. I mean, how big is this thing?" Charlie asked.

She opened her eyes and gazed into Joey's face. They held hands.

"You'll get to the bottom of it," Joey said certainly. "It'll just take a little time. And maybe Angelo's right, a much as it sticks in my throat to say it. Maybe this boy could help. Maybe Hugo will get caught out."

"What about Martha though?" Charlie asked.

Joey looked confused. Charlie sighed and closed her eyes again.

"She had cancer last year. Then she lost her husband. Because Angelo shot him, accidentally or not. And now she's found love again with Hugo and he could be evil," she said unhappily. "And Angelo and I could have been aware of it and working on the case for goodness knows how long and she would have been oblivious. I feel like I'm betraying her."

She managed a smile when Joey kissed her ever so gently on the lips. She reached up to keep her there when Joey moved to pull away.

"You're not doing anything wrong," Joey said when they parted ever so slightly. "When this whole thing with Hugo comes out... if he's guilty... it's going to hurt like hell. But she's better off knowing than not knowing. You're doing a good thing here."

Charlie sighed, hoping Joey was right.


"Who's this?" Hugo asked, freezing as soon as he walked through the door and saw a far too familiar child sitting on the floor in the lounge, clutching a cuddly toy.

Martha looked up from where she was sitting with him, having, despite the language barrier, managed to start communicating with him properly.

"This is Bambang," Martha said, standing up and taking the little boy's hand. "Bambang, this is Hugo."

Bambang looked at him but didn't say anything. Hugo was relieved. They'd met once before but it didn't seem like the kid recognised him.

"Well, hello Bambang," he said cheerfully.

Then he took Martha to one side. She left the boy playing on the floor and followed Hugo towards the kitchen.

"Where did he come from?" Hugo asked.

"Indonesia, apparently," Martha replied.

Hugo looked immediately exasperated. Martha apologised and explained the story.

"Well, why isn't he with Social Services?" Hugo asked when she was finished.

"They said we could look after him."

"And why would we want to do that?"

"Because he knows me."

"How?"

"He spent the night here when you were doing your dive. He's very frightened and alone, Hugo. But he trusts me and I want to look after him."

"But..."

"Please don't make a fuss," Martha begged. "Let me take care of him."

Without another word, she returned to Bambang in the lounge.


"Sweetheart," Joey said gently. "I'm really sorry but I'm going to make your day worse."

Charlie's eyes flashed opened and she immediately had a look of panic on her face.

"What did I do?" she asked worriedly.

Joey just stared at her.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me?"

"Don't be silly!" Joey chuckled. "You haven't done anything wrong."

Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. Joey remained concerned that Charlie's automatic assumption had been that she had done something wrong. Deciding to tackle that later, she revealed that Ruby was the problem. Charlie sat up quickly, even more worried.

"She's okay," Joey said. "But I discovered today that she sneaked out to spend the night with Geoff while we were away."

"What?" Charlie screeched. "She slept with him?"

"I don't think it was sexual," Joey said quickly. "But she did admit to staying the night. And I thought you should know."

"Too right, I should know," Charlie said. "Where is she?"

Ignoring Joey's protestations, Charlie jumped off the bed and charged out of the bedroom, hollering Ruby's name. Joey followed her into the lounge and Ruby appeared a little sheepishly a few moments later.

"Joey told you then?" the teenager said.

"Of course she told me," Charlie said. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I wanted to spend time with my boyfriend!"

"You can spend as much time with Geoff as you like," Charlie said. "But you part at ten o'clock at the latest. That's the rule! That's always been the rule! It was the rule with Xavier and it's the same with Geoff."

"Well, it's a stupid rule!" Ruby screeched. "And it's not your place to tell me what to do anyway!"

"It's exactly my place!" Charlie insisted. "I'm your mother!"

"When it suits you!" Ruby argued.

Joey cringed and sat down, watching the girls yell uncontrollably.

"I have always done my best for you..." Charlie told her daughter.

"Well your best isn't good enough, Charlie! You abandoned me as a baby and you can't just swoop in now and play the bossy, controlling parent!"

"It's not like I turfed you out!" Charlie said. "I've always been in your life. I've always..."

"You've been my sister," Ruby said. "And that's how it should have stayed. I hate that you're my Mum. I want you to be my sister and nothing else!"

"Well, you don't get a choice, I'm afraid," Charlie said bitterly, trying not to cry.

"Believe me, I wish I did," Ruby snapped.

She stormed out of the house. Charlie collapsed into Joey's arms, cursing herself for charging in and making a mess of everything all over again.


Next time... while Geoff comforts Ruby, Joey comforts Charlie and eventually, mother and daughter agree to talk things through...